Brand Names & Food Journalism
In his industry article attacking food editors, Richard Karp wrote that he found four or five articles in The New York Times, out of the numerous articles he examined published over the course of a decade, included brand names in recipes. His accusation is that the use of the brand names was a form of advertising – a violation of journalism’s standards.
According to an academic study of newspaper food journalists, editors may have depended on public relations materials for information “they were not spoon-fed by business.” The study’s author noted that newspapers had policies that forbid the use of brand names in recipes. Instead, food editors had a list of generic terms use in place of the brand name. She wrote that while some food editors used photographs provided by food companies but made sure that it was not used in a way to promote the product. Other editors only used images from industry groups rather than a photo from a food company. One of the editors said she: “only uses public relations photographs that illustrates a general theme such as breads and cheeses. Those that pertain only to a particular recipe are thrown out.”
While the use of brand names was not a practice of typical journalism practice, there is culinary reason to do so. There are times when the use of a particular product impacts the taste of a dish. In their cookbook, At Blanchard’s Table, Melinda and Robert Blanchard include a specific name brand of mayonnaise although most ingredients are listed by a generic terms. They explained: “We don’t usually recommend many name brands, but when it comes to mayonnaise we always use Hellmann’s. The flavor is better and it has more body than other brands.”
In another example, Orlando Sentinel food editor Dorothy Chapman often collected the recipes from local restaurants, including those at Walt Disney World and Epcot Center. In one example from her cookbook A Taste of Florida, for Warm Artichoke Dip – pictured above from my kitchen, she included in the ingredient list: “dry Good Seasons Italian Dressing mix.” Rather than advertising, this is likely included to make the dish taste a certain way. There also was not likely a generic substitute for the ingredient.
Journalists use the Associated Press Stylebook as an industry-wide guide. It provides the recommended rules for use of language and the proper practices to eliminate opinion. There is an entry regarding brand name. It begins with the recommended: “When they are use, capitalize them.” Then the stylebook noted that brand names “normally should be used only if they are essential to a story.” In following that guide, it is expected that when a specific name brand ingredient was needed to make a dish turn out correctly, that name would be used in a recipe.
Indiana food journalist Ann Hamman – who earned a master’s degree in home economics from Purdue University – noted that it was the typical practice of food editors to ignore brand names unless there was a particular reason. She wrote of the recipes she received from food companies: “I do rewrite the recipes completely to comply with my own notion of what makes a recipe easy to follow. I use the brand name only when that is the only product I know of that will answer the purpose. (I would never think of saying to use a ‘tomato-based hot sauce;’ I say Tobasco.) Otherwise, I defy Karp or anyone else to say what brand-name product was called for in the original.”
